The regulated role of H19 upstream region in the expression of imprinting genes

Sometimes, one of parents feels jealous when someone tells him that their child takes after their partner. He wonders why the child received the gene from him; but, his gene does not express into phenotype. While his gene is inhibited, his wife’s gene is manifested in the child. This phenomenon is called by the imprinting of gene. So why the only the imprinting gene of one sex is expressed? What factors regulates this process? How the factors allow the expression of this gene but inhibit of another gene?

Stefan Schoenfelder and colleagues interested in the process how imprinting genes were controlled. They focused on researching two specific imprinting genes: H19 and Igf2 (insulin-like growth factor 2). It was suspected that the upstream region of H19 related to the gene expression of H19 and Igf2. To find out the role of the H19 imprinting control region, Stefan Schoenfelder and other scientists transferred the gene encoding this region into Drosophila. Next, they repressed the transcription of H19 imprinting control region in transgenic flies to see what could happen. The result that they discovered was very interesting…


Doan Thanh Tam
s41914548